


We’ll Find A Sun to Rise For Us

by Psuedo_sweetheart



Series: Hearts of Gold [4]
Category: Andromeda Six (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:28:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29037879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Psuedo_sweetheart/pseuds/Psuedo_sweetheart
Summary: Boba faces her past, as well as a future she never dreamed for herself, realizing that there is more at work in shaping her than just loss and grief.  There's also strength, and hope.Addresses the interrogation scene with Vexx, her growing relationship with Damon, and the aftermath of the truce between the Crimson Dusk and Azure on Cursa.
Relationships: Damon Reznor/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Hearts of Gold [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2026270
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

“I need to talk to him,” Boba insists.

“Are you kidding??” Damon snaps, “You lost your damn mind the last time you talked to him, there’s no way I’m letting you anywhere near that guy. He’s dangerous.”

Why Damon, of all people, isn’t seeing the bigger picture is beyond her, but Boba is tempted to stomp her foot in her frustration. It doesn’t matter if Vexx hurts her, as long as they find out what they need to know. 

She clenches her fingers into fists instead and tries again.

“I was lost, and he was going to kill you all- I freaked out. This is different.”

“Yeah, it’s different because I’m here, and I’m in charge, and I say there’s not a chance in hell.” 

“Damon,” Bash interrupts, “we need that info. Boba’s tougher than she looks.”

“Ah, no offense,” he hurries to add to Boba.

A smile curls the corner of her mouth, and she shakes her head, “None taken.”

Damon is very obviously furious, teeth bared in a snarl, and all of Boba’s frustration melts away as she realizes his anger is for her, not at her. The fact that he doesn’t want her to be hurt almost makes her want to smile. It’s nice to have someone worry about her. It’s especially nice that it’s Damon.

“He’s tied up and he’s stuck with us, not me stuck with him. I’ll be fine,” she tries to reassure him.

Damon just fixes her with a glare, and Boba would normally immediately crumble and admit she’s terrified, but there’s still an unreal quality to the world, including herself. It’s easy to let her emotions slide away into the shadows of her heart where she can’t name them and they can’t hold her captive.

“One of us should go with you,” Damon finally relents, sighing and running a hand over his hair.

Boba can’t let that happen. Part of why she needs to talk to Vexx is for herself, she needs to apologize for the way she acted, but she knows Damon wouldn’t understand. In fact, she can see him scrapping the whole endeavor just to keep her from doing it.

“No. I’ll do it alone.”

Damon and Bash exchange an unhappy look, but Boba doesn’t budge.

“Fine. But if it goes south, that’s on you.”

His expression is harsh as his words, but Boba just nods, worried that her voice will betray her if she speaks. 

She hopes the trembling in her legs isn’t as visible as it feels as she walks toward the door, and presses the button, not even letting herself pause for a deep breath. 

If she stops, she’ll think, and if she thinks, she’ll feel, and if she feels, her heart will remember that if anyone could find more ways to hurt her- it would be Vexx.

There’s only just enough light to see in the storage closet, and it smells musty, but is otherwise clean, with Vexx sitting on the floor, his hands cuffed to a hook in the wall that was normally used for securing cargo.

Once the door whooshes shut behind her, a sheen of sweat breaks out over Boba’s skin. Swallowing quickly, she takes a deep breath, trying to steady herself.

“I’m gratified. You’re about to puke already.”

Feeling like her legs won’t hold her much longer, Boba eases herself down to sit on top of a sturdy crate, making sure she’s out of reach of Vexx’s boots, Damon’s warning ringing in her ears. 

“I’ve been better,” she agrees with him, proud that her voice barely wavers.

“What’s your stupid plan, this time? Or did you want to try hugging it out again?”

Boba shakes her head, “You know I don’t really do plans.”

Vexx just scoffs.

“I… ,“ she swallows thickly, closing her eyes as she draws in another deep breath. 

Is this the right thing to do? This man has hurt her more than anyone in the universe, and even if her words had hurt him, it can’t remotely compare. It had been from a place of trauma and desperation, not cruelty. But it still feels like a thorn in her heart. This is for her, not him. 

Boba opens her eyes and locks her gaze with Vexx’s.

“I wanted to apologize.”

Vexx’s blank expression crumples into horrified surprise, before it’s replaced by fury.

“What the _fuck_ , is wrong with you?!”

Boba can’t help it, she laughs, high pitched and wavering, like it’s made of all the tears she’s holding back. For a brief second, she’s scared she won’t be able to stop, but then it abruptly fades and she’s left feeling even more hollow.

“I really don’t have time to unpack all of that right now. Just let me do this.”

“Fuck no,” he snarls.

The cords of muscle in Vexx’s neck are visible as he presses his head back against the wall, like he wants to enfold himself in the metal to get away from her.

“I’m sorry,” she ignores him, “for acting like you were less than a person. You aren’t a ghost, and you aren’t-” Her breath catches, and she nearly chokes, so she hurries on. “I may have been… stressed, but I don’t like that I was cruel to- to someone else. Obviously, I can’t just let you go, but I’m going to try and keep you safe. I won’t force my company on you. More than I have to.”

Vexx’s snarl hasn’t eased, nearly spitting as he speaks, “Good. Now you can go.”

Boba can’t bring herself to keep looking at him, staring at her feet instead as she replies.

“That’s not everything, I need you to tell me if we’re being followed.”

“And why would I do that?”

She winces, “I’m afraid someone might hurt you if you don’t. It’s not like I’m in charge. And…” her mind works frantically, trying to find an angle, some way to convince him to talk to her. 

But attempting to manipulate people makes Boba feel dirty, she’s never been able to get over the sick feeling of knowing she’d be heartbroken if anyone did the same to her. 

“Is Zovack really worth it to you?” she finally asks. “You never struck me as someone who would be devoted to some kind of ruler. You were always so proud,” she adds almost absently, caught up in memories.

Vexx’s cocky grin, how he swaggered through the palace whenever he was in a good mood. How he’d break every rule he could get away with breaking, and how pleased and proud he'd been when she dared to join him. 

“Stop acting like you know me, princess. You don’t. You don’t know anything about my boss either.”

“He’s done something to you,” Boba insists, blinking back tears. “Something awful. The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced there’s no way you were always like this. You were a good man. My best friend, my whole world, was a good man.”

“Like you would know a good man, if you met one,” Vexx scoffs. “You always thought anyone who showed you a hint of kindness was a saint, and that’s obviously not changed. Bet you even think Damon has a heart of gold.”

Boba’s mouth opens to defend Damon, then snaps closed a second later. But it’s already too late.

Vexx’s expression morphs into something sharp, smug, and _knowing_ , and her pulse skyrockets so fast she feels dizzy, even sitting down.

“Let me guess, he made your heart race, so you think it's love?"

“Don’t.” Boba scrambles to her feet, her shaking hand held out toward him. “If there’s even a shred of kindness in you- not for me as Boba Peg’asi, your enemy, but for me as a person- Don’t. Please.”

“Enemy?”

Something seems to shift behind Vexx’s eyes, his voice sounding like he’s never even associated such a word with her before. Vexx is still looking lost when he jerks in place, eyes squeezing shut as he releases a groan, then sags against his bindings, chest heaving in harsh, pained, breaths.

Without thinking, Boba steps forward and presses the back of her hand against his forehead, alarmed when she finds the skin damp with sweat and radiating heat.

Vexx’s eyes fly open and it takes all her strength not to jerk away or burst into tears at those green eyes staring up at her, so familiar and so alien all at the same time. 

“Wha-”

“Sit up,” she interrupts him, grabbing his arm and helping him back into a more comfortable position.

She can do this. She can do this. She’s the kind of person who would do this. She won’t let someone suffer, no matter what, no matter who. Boba repeats those mantras in her head as she helps Vexx get as comfortable as he can be, and tries to convince herself. 

She’s never felt more like a terrible person. 

She’s worried for the man responsible for the death of her family. Boba wants to throw up. She wants to scream and cry and blame someone else. But it’s her choice.

She manages to calm down as she realizes she’s making the same choice she would have made before all of this. To be kind. Vexx hasn’t taken that from her, he hasn’t broken her, and she won’t let him either.

Her hands still want to linger, and Boba has to pull herself away, suddenly feeling exhausted. 

She doesn’t want to care about this man anymore. She doesn’t want to hurt like this anymore. Why can’t she let him go? 

But, Boba has never been good at letting go of people. Things, hopes and dreams, she’s had to give up on all those things before, but people, she always, always, tries to keep close. No matter how many times she fails, no matter how it hurts. Once Boba loves someone, she doesn’t know how to stop.

“I can get you some painkillers-”

“It’s just a headache,” Vexx interrupts.

“You don’t need to suffer, I can-”

His expression flickers like he barely held back some emotion, and Boba pauses, staring at him.

“You don’t need to suffer,” she repeats firmly. “There is enough fucking pain in the universe, and I refuse to demand more.”

“I’m fine, Boba.”

She flinches, and his expression goes flat, devoid of any emotion.

“I need to know if anyone is following us.”

Boba finds herself unable to meet his eyes again, still nursing the pain from hearing agonizingly familiar reassurance, from lips that had brought her such devastation.

Vexx keeps waffling, the sharp smugness, bleeding back into his face and voice, and Boba is about to give up and save herself, when another question pops into her head. Something that’s been bothering her, because not everything she knew about him could be a lie, and she still can’t imagine Vexx bowing his head and meaning it.

“Are you happy with how things have turned out? I know you said you- you don’t regret it, but did it give you what you wanted? You didn’t seem very free, even before you were locked in this room.”

His grin fades, and Vexx just stares at her expressionless.

Boba sighs and hangs her head.

“I can believe you never cared about me, but I can’t believe you don’t care about your freedom anymore. If this isn’t what you wanted, you can always change your mind. Unless I’m right and something happened to you.”

She makes herself look up, trying to keep herself from hoping, “ _Did_ something happen? Have you thought about it?”

Before he can speak, Vexx squeezes his eyes shut, his entire body arching as another wave of pain washes over him. 

Boba stays frozen in place this time, because this feels like proof. This isn’t just a headache, this is something else, something that makes all the hair on her arms stand on end, and whatever it is, she doesn’t think painkillers will help Vexx. 

“I don’t know,” Vexx finally grits out in between strangled breaths, each word sounding like its being torn out of him. He goes on about the C-D, tells her his crew won’t be able to follow them anymore, but Boba barely hears him. 

“What don’t you know?” she asks. “What’s missing?”

“I never told Zovack. About you.”

He’s still not answering her, but Boba is starting to get the feeling that maybe this is something he’s not ready to face yet. Maybe he’s struggling with such a terrifying prospect as having his mind altered. There’s still time, and he’s already made one choice that Zovack would never have agreed with. 

“It doesn’t matter,” she says softly, as she turns her back on him, and steps toward the door. “It’s difficult to care for my life, after you took everything good from it. This crew helps, but my family isn’t replaceable.”

Boba wonders if she’ll ever know what Vexx did, or didn’t do. She wonders if she’ll ever be able to truly believe him, if he tells her what she so desperately wants to hear. She thinks she would. She would, and perhaps she would even ignore any evidence to the contrary- that seems to be the sort of person she is. 

The sort of person she can’t afford to be anymore. 

Without another word, she opens the door and shuts it behind her. 


	2. Chapter 2

Damon is leaning against a crate a few steps away, and Boba feels a stir of affection as he looks her over, for injuries this time, instead of with the intention to make her blush. 

The bright lights of the cargo bay make the circles under his eyes stand out, and she wonders if he’s slept at all since Vexx was brought aboard.

Feeling as tired as Damon looks, Boba leans against the crate next to him, then shifts so that she’s leaning against him. She needs to be close to someone right now, needs a shoulder to lean on before she dares to release all the dread that’s built up under her skin.

To her surprise, Damon wraps an arm around her, and she lets more of her weight fall against him, sighing as all the tension eases from her muscles.

“That bad?” he asks, his thumb rubbing soothingly back and forth along her arm.

“Pretty much,” she admits, in a tired, quiet voice. “But I got what we needed.”

Damon just nods, not seeming in any hurry to move things along, and Boba is more than happy to soak up every bit of this unusual show of support and affection, for as long as he’s willing to indulge her.

She’s just started to feel calm and vaguely approaching normal when Damon shifts, pulling something from his jacket pocket and holding it in his fist.

“Hold out your hand,” he says, voice teasing.

Boba tilts her chin so she can look him in the face, noting that his smirk is less sharp than she’s used to. 

He arches an eyebrow when she fails to obey promptly, and Boba smiles at his impatience as she extends her open hand to his closed one.

Something small and round, with a surprising weight to it is dropped into her palm, and Boba gasps, recognizing her music box instantly by feel alone. She straightens from where she’d been leaning on Damon as her fingers instinctively curl around it, tears coming to her eyes.

“But-”

“I bet you thought that was long gone,” Damon interrupts her.

Boba can’t speak for a moment as she tries to blink back her tears. She shakes her head, as she finally manages to swallow the lump in her throat.

“What about the ship part? The bounty?”

He shrugs, “Didn’t need it. And the bounty is- well, we can take care of it.” He nods at where she still it clutched in her fist, “Go on, open it.”

Curiously, Boba squeezes the music box in her palm.

It opens, the sad lullabye twinkling in the air around them, but it’s the lights that first capture her attention. They’re no longer flickering like a glitchy holopad screen, and there in the center is a perfectly rendered, holographic ballerina. The one who had made Boba want to learn to dance. 

She’d forgotten. Forgotten that there had been a ballerina, forgotten it made her want to learn to dance, and Boba stares at it hungrily, hoping it might unlock other memories, other ones she didn’t know she was missing. 

She’s even more desperate for them, now that they’re all she has left. 

Half her nightmares are about losing her memory all over again, and she still doesn’t know, will _never_ know, if she has all of them that a person can have. It’s a knowledge that haunts her daylight hours, a knowledge that Boba feels will haunt her till the day she dies.

When nothing else is forthcoming, Boba closes her eyes, tears sliding down her cheeks as she does.

“Hmm…” Damon hums, “Gotta say, I was expecting happy tears.”

Boba shakes her head, before opening her eyes and giving him a wobbly smile.

“It’s both. Bittersweet.”

“I wasn’t sure if that’s what it was supposed to do, but it was the best they could do to fix it.”

She nods, taking another look before shutting it away.

“It’s perfect.” She laughs softly, “I named the ballerina Wendy, and when Nerissa was gone, I would talk to her and dance with her.”

Damon frowns, looking at the music box dubiously, like he couldn’t imagine a holographic ballerina being good friend material. 

“Sounds kinda fucked up.”

Boba nods, “Yeah, it was.”

She would never have admitted her childhood was ‘fucked up,’ before. It was always her that was messed up. But now she has to be strong, she can’t afford to be the screw up anymore. So instead, she’s been trying to face the truth. 

And the truth is, most of her memories are of desperate loneliness, and quiet despair. 

Boba feels damaged by them, by the family she’d loved and lost. Maybe it’s wrong, but facing their loss is easier than facing the fact that they’d hurt her.

“They were killing me,” she admits, staring the music box perched in her palm, before closing her fingers over it again. “Locking me up, leaving me alone. 

I remember being very young, and not knowing if Ta’jean, The Stellar Queen, was my mother or not. I looked like her, but all I knew about mothers were from stories, and she… When I asked Nerissa, she had to blink away tears. It was the only time I’d ever seen her cry.” 

“Then Vexx came, and rescued you.” 

Damon’s voice breaks her contemplation, and she looks at him, looking down at her. Like usual, she can’t read his expression, and she nods hesitantly, then can’t help but smile as she remembers her first day with Vexx.

“I was scared of him at first.”

Damon snorts out a laugh, shaking his head in disbelief, and she goes on, laughing softly.

“He was so… “

“Irritating?” Damon provides, and she shakes her head, smiling. “Dick-ish? Mouthy?”

“Intense,” she finally says. “Everything he did, he did like it was part of a competition. I didn’t know what to make of him.” Her smile falters, “I guess I still don’t.”

Damon makes a thoughtful noise as he watches her, and she wonders what he’s seeing, what he’s thinking about what he sees.

“I’ll keep them from killing him, or try to at least. I don’t think anyone will want to be responsible for killing your hero though, even if he is an asshole and fucked it all up.”

Boba’s eyes fill with tears, her hand pressing against her chest. Is that what this is? This terrible, helpless, love for Vexx? Hero love? 

She doesn’t remember anything else, and all she knows is that she can’t quit, no matter how much she wants to, no matter how much kinder it would be to both of them to tear it out and bury it with the rest of her past. 

Trying to take her mind off it, she blinks away her tears and looks up at Damon.

“Thank you. For everything.”

“Yeah, well, Vexx and I go way back anyway, and the music box is…” he sighs, rolling his shoulders and running his hand over the back of his neck. 

“An apology. I shouldn’t have said what I did, about handing you over to Zovack. The old me would have done it in a heartbeat, but I don’t want to be the old me anymore. I wanna be better than that.”

Boba just stares at Damon a moment, then flings her arms around him, squeezing as hard as she can. 

She didn’t expect this. She didn’t think she’d ever get an apology from him and even though she’d already forgiven him, knowing he thought she deserved an apology, felt like winning a prize beyond measure.

Damon gives a playful, ‘oof,’ as if she could truly squeeze the air out of him, before wrapping his arms around her, chest rumbling with laughter.

His hands rub up and down her back softly as he holds her, and Boba sighs into the embrace, wishing they could stay like this for at least an hour, if not more. It's been so long since she's just been held. Regardless of the actual cycles of the planets, it was a lifetime ago for her.

“You didn’t have to go to so much trouble,” she says, her cheek pressed up against his chest. “You could have just said you were sorry…”

“Yeah, well, words are cheap. Particularly, from guys like me. But for what it’s worth, I am sorry.”

He chuckles again, as Boba squeezes him tighter.

“I forgive you, and for what it’s worth, I think you’re a great guy.”

Damon makes a thoughtful noise, but it sounds different this time, pitched lower, and the atmosphere around them changes instantly, going heavy and charged, like an electrical storm. 

Boba shivers as Damon’s hands slide down her back, leaving a burning trail in their wake, before settling at her waist, his grip tight. Certain. 

Like she’s _his_. 

Heat floods Boba’s face, as well as the rest of her body. Legs feeling weak, she grips the back of of his jacket in her fist. 

The action somehow makes the sudden tension between them deepen, Damon’s hands tightening around her in response. Unfortunately, a moment later, he gently pushes her back, his hands still framing her waist. 

Boba makes herself raise her chin to look him in the eye, and then all thoughts about being embarrassed vanish, like the darkness there swallowed them up. 

He’s looking at her with a half hooded gaze, so intent, it certainly feels like he could uncover all her thoughts and secrets with a single glance, pulling them down into the deep ocean of his eyes with the rest of his vast, untouchable, collection. 

Too soon, Damon winks, squeezing her waist once more before letting go, not a word uttered between them. Not a word needed.

“Shall we then?” he nods toward the stairs. “Pretty sure everyone is curious how your little chat with Carrot head went.”

Boba just nods, her mind still caught up in the feeling of his hands on her, and the even stronger feeling of belonging to him. She wants more. She wants to bask in the moment, she wants to find out if he is hers too. 

Snickering, Damon brushes by her, but then waits for her at the bottom of the stairs.

“Come on, Bambi, gotta keep up. We got work to do, secrets to spill, plans to be made.”

Boba shakes her head, like that will free her from the spell Damon has her under, smiling as she walks toward him. This would have to do for now. Another memory to hold close, one far less painful than most of her jumbled collection.

“How did you manage to fix my music box, anyway?” she asks as they trudge up the stairs.

The sound echoes less now that the cargo bay is fuller, thanks to Alisa’s ‘gifts,’ which Boba has been assured are safe to travel with. As safe as any other potentially explosive device.

“I… might have had some help.”

Unseen behind him, Boba rolls her eyes, smiling at his reluctance to say anything straightforward. 

“Alisa?” she asks.

“Yeah. Wow, did she give me crap for what I did or what… She knew a guy who knew a guy, who could fix fancy trinkets like that.” 

He pauses at the top of the stairs, and they walk side by side down the hallway toward the bridge.

“Do try not to break it again,” he adds, bumping her arm with his elbow.

“I’m sad I didn’t get to say goodbye to her,” Boba says, still thinking of Alisa. “And I’m kind of embarrassed I returned from a simple mission passed out like a… princess.”

Damon shrugs, his hands stuck casually in his pockets.

“Shit happens. Besides, you made that truce happen. You saved hundreds of lives, and made it so I could leave, knowing there was a chance for them to not only not be slaughtered, but to fuckin’ win.”

“Me?” Boba says dumbly, stopping in the middle of the hallway.

The lights here are less harsh, and Damon looks less harsh too. Boba still isn’t sure what to make of the new softness, or what he’s telling her. Things have changed so much, so quickly.

Damon pauses, shaking his head as he chuckles, “Yeah, you, Bambi.”

“I saved hundreds of lives?”

Boba feels like her world has been shoved off its axis for at least the third time since all this started as she watches Damon step back toward her, his brow furrowed.

“Didn’t anyone tell you the K’Merii showed up at the bunker, guns blazing? Azure, came through though, and together they handed the K’Merii their asses.”

Boba had heard that, but she hadn’t put the two together with the realization that the truce she’d fought for, was why people survived.

She covers her face with her hands, suddenly overwhelmed.

“Hundreds?” 

Her heart feels like its expanded at least three sizes, overflowing, and forcing tears from her eyes. 

She’d done something good. Something unequivocally, and almost incomparably good. Who gets to save hundreds of lives all at once? How many people are that lucky?

Damon sighs, but his fingers are gentle as he pries her hands from her face and holds them in his own.

“I mean, most of them are gangsters who aren’t even close to innocent, and aren’t exactly great citizens, but yeah.”

Shaking her head, Boba pulls her hands from Damon’s so she can wipe her eyes.

“I don’t care about that. I know I don’t understand what people have to do to survive in places like Cursa, and I’m just glad they’ll have a chance to change things for the better. Anyone, can do that. Anyone, can choose to change.”

“Even you,” Damon says, tugging gently on a lock of her hair. “You didn’t let gang leaders that’ve made lesser people piss themselves, push you around. You may cry still like one, but you aren’t as much of a Bambi as you used to be. Give yourself a little credit, Boba. You did good.”

Boba throws her arms around him again, and Damon hugs her back, not even sighing. 

He doesn’t let her hold on this time though, just giving a quick squeeze before pushing her back.

“We need to get to the bridge sometime today, sweetheart.” He put his hands on her shoulders, smirking as his eyes track over her face. “You might want to go splash some water on your face first though, crybaby.”

Boba huffs and tiredly waves him off, “Alright, I’ll meet you there, then.”

“Don’t make us wait, princess,” Damon says, winking as he turns to go on without her.

Boba shakes her head, smiling fondly, but doesn’t bother otherwise responding. 

Walking to the bathroom, she's barely aware of the ship around her. She saved lives. She made something good and put it out into the world, where it unfolded into people who got to go home and live another day. 

All the terrible things that happened to her, they were the sorts of things people don’t truly ever recover from. You have to become someone else, someone who can deal with it.

But this is life changing too. Good things can make her someone else too. 

Boba splashes water on her face, quickly patting it dry, before she looks into the mirror.

She pulls a smile to her lips, tries to make it look proud and strong. 

It wobbles a bit, but even with her eyes still a bit puffy and red, and her skin dull, it doesn’t look half bad. 

It looks… earned.

She thinks, she might be able to learn to live with that.


End file.
